India International Regatta at Chennai - Day 4
by Icarus Sailing Media 7 Oct 2011 07:59 BST
2-9 October 2001
Light conditions continue
The light weather was present for one more day in Chennai. The sailors, after waiting for a while, started their first race for today around 11.30. The Optimist sailors started first and were struggling to reach the weather mark, as the wind was gradually dropping. The race was abandoned and the committee tried to set up the race area again, because the wind shifted from west to east.
Nevertheless, a small breeze was consistent enough and gave the opportunity to start racing again. Optimist sailor Muhamad Uzair Yusuf from Malaysia was leading the race, but Dheer Singhi from India and Peter Lin Janezic from Slovenia were closing the gap. Janezic did an exceptional downwind leg and rounded the third mark in the first place. He continued this way during the upwind and, after finishing the loop, he left his rivals far behind.
At the same time the duo of Shiv Rekhi/Ankit were leading at the 29er fleet, while the girls Varsha / Aishwarya were third. Their good performance today in combination with the very bad finishes of Ganapathy / Varun, brought the girls on top of the overall ranking and the boys just a point behind them. Hussain / Praveen are in third place overall, after finishing second in both races today, and are only three points behind Ganapathy / Varun.
Back at the Optimists, Janezic extended his lead by scoring a second and a third. The only sailor that seems to can make him worry is Toni Vrscaj, also from Slovenia, who scored a third and a first place today and is 8 points behind him. Yusuf from Malaysia is completing the first three places at the overall ranking, but has a big gap from the Slovenians, being more than 20 points behind.
Tomorrow is the final day of racing at the India International Regatta, since the committee decided to skip the reserve day and have it on Sunday along with the Closing Ceremony. Stay tuned to find out the winners of the 3rd India International Regatta.
More information on the event website.